


Summer Song

by Morpheus626



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25056793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: A fic that's essentially just the boys being in love at the beach lol. I wrote it last year because I was sad there was no way for me to get to the beach. Now, we can all reread it in 2020, when now none of us can go to the beach, so we live vicariously through Sledge and Snafu.
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Kudos: 4





	Summer Song

**Author's Note:**

> Of course, rights for the book quoted in this one, The Pearl by John Steinbeck go to…well, Steinbeck. A favorite of mine (I will reread Cannery Row at least once a year until the day I die probably) so I couldn’t resist putting a quote in, especially since The Pearl was on a list of Most Read for the late 40′s/early 50′s.

The ride to the beach wasn’t long, only a bit over an hour, but everything felt languishing and elongated in the heat. 

Snafu had agreed to drive, his shirt unbuttoned and hanging open already, an extra pair of Eugene’s sunglasses on his face. “We’re gonna melt before we get there. Can you still get burnt if you’re already melted?” 

Eugene shrugged. “We’ll find out. It’ll be worth it though; I can already feel the water.” 

“That’s sweat, darlin’,” Snafu replied, wiping at his own forehead with a free hand. 

“No, you gotta envision it right. Think about it: hot sand underneath those ugly ass sandals of yours,” Eugene started, leaning back against the seat and closing his eyes. 

“These sandals made it through a fuckin’ war, to get rid of them would be a crime,” Snafu interrupted. “Besides, they’re comfy.” 

“And barely held together by anything except hope,” Eugene laughed. “But I digress. Back to the beach. All that hot sand, until we get to the edge of the water. Can you hear it, lapping at our feet? And we’re the only ones out there, so that’s all there is to hear. The water, movin’ slow. The sand shiftin’ underneath us as we walk. Sound of the birds flyin’ overhead. Sweatin’ under the sun, but paying it no mind once we’re in the water.” 

Snafu was watching the road, but was moving his jaw in the way that Eugene knew meant he was listening, creating exactly what he was saying in his head. 

“And we float out there together, not a care in the world. Once we get sick of that, we’ll come back onto the sand and lay out the blanket and the umbrella. I can read to you while we sit and dry off, and play with your hair the way I know you like. Let you fall asleep on me, ‘cause I know you’re gonna,” Eugene smiled. 

“What book did you bring?” Snafu asked.

“The Pearl. Didn’t want to drag anything too heavy with us. We got enough to carry,” Eugene replied. 

Snafu nodded, his jaw still moving away, Eugene knew unconsciously. He wondered what else Snafu might be picturing them doing on the beach together. 

It was mercifully slow at the beach, somehow. He figured the others, bigger and with more amenities, were probably swamped. That worked perfectly for them now. 

There was a slight breeze, and the fabric of Snafu’s shirt hanging loose shifted as he stood near their chosen spot while Eugene set up. It was a small thing, but it made Eugene want to pull him down onto the blanket and hold him tight. Something about the sight of the baby blue material against his skin made his breath stick in his chest, and his hands yearn to touch that skin. 

“You gonna go in right now?” Snafu asked, still facing the gulf’s crashing water as he kicked off his sandals. 

Truth be told, he was content to just stare at Snafu, frozen in the scene of the sun beating down, the white sand, and the blue sky contrasting against the sight of Snafu standing there, perfect. 

But the call of the water was enticing. 

“Yeah. May as well before we melt,” he replied, yanking off the T-shirt he wore and leaving his sandals near the blanket. It was the only part of his uniform that he’d put into the rest of his wardrobe, if only because it was damn comfortable. 

More comfortable was bare skin against Snafu’s, his shirt abandoned by Eugene’s on their blanket along with their sunglasses. 

He hadn’t gotten into the water intending on immediately pulling Snafu close to him. It had hit him hard, the need to suddenly have Snafu near as possible, a different kind of heat layered on top of the heat from the sun. 

He let himself lean lightly, ever so carefully, against Snafu’s back as they floated in the water, the sensation of touching Snafu the only thing on his mind. 

Snafu turned around, pulling him against him without a word. It was something that didn’t need to be spoken, the identical need to just touch and be touched, but only by each other, with no particular reason behind it except that they were together, on a day where no obligation could reach them, with love just sitting in the wings, waiting for all of this free time so it could be properly expressed. 

“Think there are sharks out here?” Snafu asked, and Eugene snorted. 

“We’re havin’ a nice romantic moment here, and…Snaf,” Eugene sighed. “And yeah, probably. Not near us, in theory. But somewhere out here, yeah.” 

“Just wonderin’,” Snafu murmured. “Gotta know if I need to protect you, y’know.” 

“You’d fight off a shark for me?” 

“Fight off a whole…whatever a group of ‘em is called. Clusterfuck? Whatever, point is they’d never touch you,” Snafu replied. 

“A clusterfuck?” Eugene giggled. “Well, you know I’d do the same for you.” 

“Hm,” Snafu muttered. “Speak and they do appear.” 

“Sorry?” Eugene turned in time to see a fin in the water. “Snaf, were you gonna tell me about that?” 

“Was gonna just drag you out with me, to be honest,” Snafu replied, a hand on his arm pulling him along as he moved them back towards shore. “Could be a dolphin.” 

“Could be, sure,” Eugene agreed, grateful for the feeling of the sand under their feet as they got out of the water. At least they hadn’t been too far out. “Better not to disturb whatever it is though. Can always go back out later.” 

Snafu nodded, and grabbed his hand as they stood there, watching the fin move in the water. 

“S’weird. I know that if that thing really is a shark, had bumped into us and taken a bite out of either of us…I know that’s dangerous,” Snafu sighed. “But it doesn’t…register. Know what I mean? Like I know the danger is there but I don’t…feel it right. I mean, that’s nothing compared to Peleliu, Okinawa…but I should be scared of it, right?” 

“I mean…sharks don’t know any better, really. They’re just tryin’ to figure out if whatever they bumped into is food or an enemy or whatever. But yeah, still dangerous in a way, since we’re pretty much alone out here and all. But I get it. There’s so much random shit that scares me when it probably shouldn’t. Then there’s stuff like this, and it feels like nothin’ in comparison to what you already been through, so it’s like,” Eugene shrugged. “I can watch something that I know could potentially cause my death swim on by and have no issue, but tomorrow night I might have a nightmare so bad I won’t sleep well for a week.” 

“…we’re a little fucked up, huh?” Snafu asked, his hand squeezing Eugene’s. 

Eugene squeezed back as he led them back to the blanket. “Yeah. Think if you made it back, then you are. Just the nature of it.” 

He moved their clothes and put on his sunglasses, handing Snafu’s over to him as he lay down and patted the blanket, warm from the sand. “Let me read to you.” 

Snafu lay down beside him, curled up against him. “We started it last night, but I don’t remember where we were…fell asleep on you. Sorry ‘bout that.” 

“I marked it before I fell asleep. We barely got it started, honestly. You can fall asleep on me now too, if you want,” Eugene smiled.

“You just like watchin’ me sleep,” Snafu smirked, and pressed a kiss to Eugene’s chest. 

“Yeah,” Eugene replied. “Not my fault you’re so damn cute when you sleep.” 

Snafu giggled and wrapped an arm around him, his breath warm on Eugene’s neck, and Eugene melted. 

He pulled the book out from the small bag they’d brought with, sitting just outside of the shade of the umbrella. 

“You already sleepin’?” he teased as he watched Snafu’s chest rise and fall, slow and relaxed. 

“Nah. Just comfy. You gonna read or just admire me all day?” 

“I can do both,” Eugene chuckled as he opened the book with his free hand, the other wrapped around Snafu, keeping him close. 

They were only five paragraphs in, meeting Kino and his family for what had to be the fifth time now, more if they counted all the times they’d read the book individually, not just together. 

“In Kino’s head there was a song now, clear and soft, and if he had been able to speak of it, he would have called it the Song of the Family,” Eugene read. 

“What would ours sound like?” Snafu asked. 

“What?” 

“Our Song of the Family. You, me, all the kids back at home. If we put it in a song, what do you think it’d sound like?” Snafu asked.

“Not sure. Feel like it could sound like a lot, all at once. Almost discordant. Especially if we let the kids sing on it, I mean…” Eugene laughed. 

Snafu snorted. “Could you imagine? With what backin’ them?” 

“Piano, and I’m not sure all what else,” Eugene replied. “What do you think?” 

“Piano’d be nice. Can do a lot with it, since it’d be a long song,” Snafu said. 

“Oh yeah?” 

“’Course. It’s gonna play for the rest of our lives, so we gotta have an instrument that can go the distance, y’know? Convey a bunch of different moods and feelings,” Snafu answered. 

Eugene nodded, and set the book down. His eyelids were heavy, and he knew Snafu was probably just as sleepy. It was hard not to be, in the heat, sitting comfortable in each other’s arms. 

“Think I can hear it now,” Eugene said, moving to intertwine his legs with Snafu’s. 

Snafu leaned in close to him, and sighed happily. “Me too. I like it. The best song I’ve ever heard.” 

“It is,” Eugene whispered as he let his eyes start to close. In a few hours, they’d start the drive back home. But for now there was the crash of the water, the warmth of Snafu in his arms, and their Song of the Family playing in his head.


End file.
